What matters most to youth? Part 2

Have you had an experience that upended your views or enlightened
your view concerning certain issues? You need to read my first post in this
series.

On August 12, the International Youth Day, the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) and Global Citizen launched a
#showyourselfie global social media campaign to urge world
leaders to make the needs and rights of young people a priority
in the post-2015 development agenda.

Young people were encouraged to take a selfie and post it onto
Instagram or Twitter, to send a clear message to leaders that
it’s time to put young people in the spotlight. Like this year’s
theme to commemorate the day, “Youth and Mental Health,” this
campaign was not exactly exciting to me. This excerpt from
a post by Mail &
Guardian Africa may help convey my sentiment at the time:

If Africa’s youth were to start taking selfies and loading
them the impact would be tremendous, after all this is the
world’s most youthful continent with approximately 65% of the
total population below the ages of 35 years, and 35% between the
ages of 15 and 35 years. This huge number puts Africa at the
centre of international youth day, and yet they would probably be
the least likely to join this feel-good #showyourselfie campaign.
This is because Africa’s youth are experiencing huge challenges
in employment, education, access to capital and health services –
which are particularly pronounced in rural areas. While some of
the global youth are preoccupied with perfecting the pout to load
onto social media, Africans are busy trying to get an education,
a job, avoiding illnesses and being used as political pawns or
conscripts in armed struggles...Policies are clearly needed to
address Africa’s youth bulge—perhaps engaging them in activities
with more tangible gains in money, sex and jobs - rather than a
hash-tag campaign – would be better for next year.

So, I sought to ask some young people in Nigeria, Africa’s
biggest economy and country by population, what matters most to
them. Thankfully, I got sincere replies! I thought of summarising
their thoughts but later decided that may not suffice. Here are
some of the true life thoughts of real people from the youngest
continent of the world:

“What matters most to us are economic opportunities, improvement
of education sector to increase chances of getting a good job,
and boosting entrepreneurship.”

“I think the youth in Nigeria are underutilized. They are not
properly engaged in areas that will better their life and the
country at large. The youth are not given the right opportunity
to discover their potentials. We are tired of being the leaders
of tomorrow that will never come.”

“I want to see a change in the way our leaders take decisions. I
want to see a change in the way our leaders carry out their
duties-without excessively spending the resources of the state. I
want to see a society where our common citizens become more
concerned about the issues related to governance rather than just
sit back and complain. I want to see a society where people have
respect for the natural environment, a society where all men
would have access to all resources whether rich or poor.”

“I think what matters to the youth in Nigeria is recognition.
Nigerian youth are not recognized for their works and they are
not well paid. We need the attention of the government, we need
the government to provide more job opportunities and also provide
a platform for us to showcase our talents.”

“I think what matters most to youth are technology and creative
works. We are now in the days of youth using technology to solve
the nation’s problem, be it economy, health, education and so on.
Creative jobs like photography, fashion designing, shoe making,
etc.

“Health and mental wellness!”

“The deteriorating state of our education system is my greatest
concern. So much is being said but nothing serious has been done
to change the situation. Without a quality, functional, effective
and up-to-date education, we have no future. Investment in
education should not only be targeted towards physical
infrastructures only. Effort should be made to develop the
capacity of educators in modern methods of teaching and learning.
Design thinking and entrepreneurial learning should be integrated
into teachers' training institutes. And schools should upgrade
their programmes to reflect current realities. So much needs to
be done. And I look forward to a moment when we would all come
together to collaborate in order to outline these challenges and
proffer real solutions to them. Thanks.”

“Thank you for this opportunity. I wish all youth around the
globe a happy youth day. The youth in Nigeria, need adequate
mentoring to help foster a healthy and balanced personality and
employment opportunities which includes holiday jobs. Most times,
the youth face the challenge of living their dream because they
are deprived of the opportunity to develop their soft skill to
equip them for their future. I do hope the youth of today can
live to become the intellectual sound leaders of tomorrow.”

“We need proper internship/grooming. Every organisation and
ministry must be mandated to take in students for internship.
Every course must provide room for internship and students
allowed to choose their preferred path.”

“I am worried about the poor mental attitudes towards positive
developments and inability to say no to crime.”

“Issues of concern that need to be addressed like the challenges
of insecurity and joblessness, juvenile delinquencies as a result
of idleness, loss of trust in the standard of education and
governing bodies.”

“I look forward to a society where the youth (the future of a
society) is courageous enough to shun all form of mediocre and
immoral lifestyle, are respected and allowed to make opinion
& contribution in this society, the older folks being fully
supportive playing only supervisory/advisory role not interfering
roles.”

“A non-discriminatory society with abundance of opportunities to
inspire us!”

“What matters most to the Nigerian youth is access to proper
health, education and opportunities to utilize their
skills.”

There you have it! So to you-what matters most to youth in your
country?